Here is the tail stand I just completed. It will raise the tail of the plane 38″ and will put the cockpit in a relatively level orientation which will make it easier to work on. Once installed, I will put a strap over the top of the tailwheel to make sure it can’t come out, although I doubt it will. It will give me some peace of mind in case of an earthquake I guess. The cross piece on the base slides off from the bottom so I can disassemble the stand for storage against a wall or under a shelf when I’m not using it. The wood came from the trestle I built to put under the center section wing when I was stripping the wheelwells and overhauling the landing gear.

Next, we need to build a small stairway to make it easier to get onto the wing with the tail so high in the air.

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Finally, after months of stripping the paint work is finished on the center section wing, the baggage compartment area and the steel fuselage tubing.

 Here are a few quick photos…

Time to start bolting stuff in! A lot of it has already been restored and is sitting on the shelf, so hopefully we can make some quick obvious visible progress.

Categories: Blow by blow account
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